Over my calories..

jessackerman21
jessackerman21 Posts: 44 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Will going over my calories one day (by 400) make me gain weight?

Replies

  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
    How much have you told MFP you want to lose per week? If you have told MFP that you want to lose 1 pound or more, then no, you will still lose weight eating 400 calories over your goal. Just less than you would have before. If you set it at .5 pounds per week, then you would gain an incredibly small amount of weight, not even registerable by the scale.
  • jessackerman21
    jessackerman21 Posts: 44 Member
    I told MFP to lose 1.5 per week
  • Danp
    Danp Posts: 1,561 Member
    That really depends.

    There are 3500 calories in a pound of fat therefore 400 calories is (about) 2.2oz of fat. (I think my maths right).

    whether eating those 400 calories will make you gain 2.2oz of weight depends on how many other caloies you've eaten.

    If you've maintained a 1lb per week calorie deficit of 500cals per day then no, it would just mean that your deficit for that day would be 100cals instead of 500cals, your weekly deficit would be 3100 calories and your loss for that week would be slightly under the 1lb goal.

    Of you were eating maintenance then you'd gain 2.2oz and if you're eating in surplus you'd gain 2.2oz extra.

    But really, we're talking about 2.2oz here which is pretty insignificant as a isolated incident and would be lost amongst other factors like water weight, time of day, and a million other factors.

    We didn't get overweight be eating an extra 400 calories one day. We got where we were by eating 400 extra every day and likely at several meals per day.

  • smantha32
    smantha32 Posts: 6,990 Member
    If 4 days of the rest of the week you eat 100 calories under your chosen deficit, you can make up for going over.
  • Danp
    Danp Posts: 1,561 Member
    edited May 2019
    I don't see the 'making up for it afterwards' thing as penance or having done anything wrong. It's just simple accounting.

    For example; I get invited to an event, last minute, and the ticket is $100. I haven't budget for this so if the option to 'make it up afterwards' is off the table the only thing I can do is decline the offer and miss out on the opportunity. Alternatively I can spend the $100, attend the event and decide that I'm going to 'make it up afterwards' by curbing my spending in other areas for a few days or forgoing the expense of another planned activity that isn't as important as the last minute event.

    Personally, I'd much rather 'make up for' something ahead of time so if I know I'll be likely having a higher calorie meal I'll make sure I have them spare, but by the same token if I find myself stuck at work and someone orders pizzas for us you betcha I'm gonna have pizza and balance the calorie accounts later.
  • HulkV2
    HulkV2 Posts: 32 Member
    3500 cals is effectively 1 lb, if you go over it's not the end of the world. Just wake up and hit the rest of the week.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    I think 'making up for it afterwards' should be something you decide a little later on when you are settled into a routine. Early in the process paying it back could worsen a problem with hunger if the person has not figured out exactly how to be in a calorie deficit and be satisfied. Also people are going to make mistakes until they get a better handle on food selection. You think a salad is a good choice on the menu and when you look it up you realize what you thought would be 250ish calories was really 750.

    I think the best first lesson is that perfection is not required nor should it be the goal.

    I don't like the idea of payback for me but I have seen others besides @Danp mention they do it without problems. I just accept that life is sometimes messy and move on.

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